A history of the Agricultural and Mechanical college

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COL. GEORGE WASHINGTON FLOWERS
MEMORIAL COLLECTION

TRINITY COLLEGE LIBRARY
DURHAM, N. C.

The Gift of.

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THE NORTH CAROLINA TEACHER.

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TFor The Korth Carolina Teacher.]

A HISTORY OF THE AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANI-
CAL COLLEGE.

BY W. J. PEELE, ESQ., RALEIGH, N.

It is said that ten years before the agitation of the movement
culminating in this institution some farmers in Edgecombe county
suggested the propriety of an Agricultural College. As the
benefits of industrial education have been more or less familiar
to all well-informed persons for the past twenty-five years, it is
quite probable that the suggestion was actually made as was
alleged. It was either not very well received or not much
insisted upon, for none of the originators of this movement ever
heard of it.

But it is not the purpose of this paper to treat of mere sug-
gestions. It was said of John Huss that if he had lived a cen-
tury later he would not have been burned at the stake, and that
his reformation would have succeeded like Luther's. How this
would have been we cannot tell. All that we now know is that
he did not live a century later, that his reformation did not suc-
ceed like Luther's, and that he was burned at the stake. It is
my purpose in this paper to show that nearly ten years later
than ten years ago the propriety of establishing an Industrial
School in North Carolina was suggested among some young men
of this city; that then they showed how the thing could be
done, and that then, with the powerful assistance of many oth-
ers, they went ahead and did it.

It is also the further purpose of this paper to record the
names of the principal actors in this movement. There are
some like Mr. Primrose, Mr. Pullen, Dr. Dabney and Mr.
Page, whose names will always be indissolubly connected with
this institution. There are also others like Colonel Green, Mr.
Williams and Mr. Leazar, of the Board of Agriculture, whose
names ought to be underscored on the corner-stone. There are
still others like Mr. Winslow, Mr. Leach and Mr. Ashley, of
the Watauga Club, Mr. Dixon, Mr. R. Winston and Mr. Fries,

2 THE NORTH CAROLINA TEACHER.

in the Legislature, Major Harding, Major Tucker, Mr. Bailey
and Mr. W. G. Upchurch, of the citizens, and Colonel Polk, of
the Progressive Farmer, whose services are a part of the history
of industrial education in North Carolina.

On May 26th, 1884, the Watauga Club, which had just then
been formed, adopted a prospectus of its principles and pur-
poses, containing the following clause: "We proceed upon the
assumption, which cannot be denied, that there is in our com-
munity a serious lack of accurate and practical information
upon the most common economic questions which arise for our
consideration." In response to this sentiment one of the mem-
bers, who had been appointed to "address the club upon any
subject he may elect," prepared and read at the next regular
meeting of June 18th a paper upon Industrial Education and
the feasibility of establishing an Industrial School in North
Carolina. From time to time other papers were read and sug-
gestions offered as to the most practical plans for establishing
such school. On the 17th of December, 1884, a committee
was appointed with instructions to present to the club at its next
regular meeting, to be held in January, 1885, a "definite report"
upon the practicability of establishing an Industrial School in
North Carolina, "with a view of submitting the same to the Leg-
islature which should then be in session."

At the next meeting of the club, January 7th, 1885, Mr.
Arthur Winslow, himself a graduate of an Industrial School,
read the report of the committee. On the loth of January, at
a called meeting of the club, Mr. W. H. Page offered the fol-
lowing:

"Resolved, That a committee be appointed to memorialize
the Legislature in the name of this club to establish an Indus-
trial School i:i North Carolina, and respectfully offer to the
Legislature, or a proper committee thereof, all the information
on the subject in possession of the club; that the committee be
empowered, if need be, to publish such information also."

This resolution was adopted, and Messrs. Page, Winslow and
others were appointed as the committee. With the assistance of

THE NORTH CAROLINA TEACHER. 3

Dr. Daboey, the committee prepared a memorial, the substance
of which is as follows:

"1st. To establish an Industrial School in North Carolina, a
training place in the wealth-producing arts and sciences.

"2d. To be located at Raleigh iu connection with the State
Agricultural Department.

"3d. To erect a suitable building and provide proper equip-
ment.

"4th. That the instruction be in wood-work, mining, metal-
lurgy, and practical agriculture.

"5th. That necessary shops and laboratories be erected adjoin-
ing the buildings of the Agricultural Department, and that an
experimental farm in the vicinity of Raleigh be equipped.

"6th. That an Industrial School is of prime importance and
greatly in demand."

To this was subjoined information and estimates of cost.

The committee appeared before the Legislative Committee on
Education, whose acting chairman was Mr. Leazar. Mr. Thomas
Dixon, an enthusiastic believer in industrial education, intro-
duced a bill of his own without waiting for the report of the
committee. Mr. Leazar for the committee subsequently intro-
duced the bill which became the Act of 1885. The bill passed
the'House by a vote of 51 to 11. In the Senate Messrs. R.
W. Winston, Willis R. Williams, Capt. S. B. Alexander and
Major John Gatling, deceased, were its special champions. It
passed by a vote of 23 to 9, becoming a law on the 7th day of
March, 1885.

The time will come when posterity will demand the ayes and
noes on this bill, but I will not call them to-day. The bill became
a law not without considerable difficulty. Some opposed it be-
cause they were fossils and oppose everything; some feared it
would ultimately draw the Land Scrip Fund away from the
University. It was the general opinion of its friends at the
time it Was passed that it would have failed if it had called for
one dollar from the general treasury.

The main features of the Act are interesting at this day. It
provides :

4 THE NORTH CAROLINA TEACHER.

1st. That the Board of Agriculture should seek proposals of
donations from the cities and towns of North Carolina, and
when an adequate donation should be made by any city or town,
there the school should be located, giving the place the prefer-
ence which offered the greatest inducements.

2d. That the school should be under joint control of the
Board of Agriculture and directors from such town or city.

3d. That the instruction should be in wood-work, mining,
metallurgy, practical agriculture, and such other branches of
industrial education as may be deemed expedient.

4th. That the Board of Agriculture should be authorized to
apply annually $5,000 of the surplus funds of their department
to the establishment and maintenance of said school.

Pursuant to Act of Assembly, and authorized by resolution
of the Board adopted October 15th, 1885, Mr. McGehee, Com-
missioner of Agriculture, advertised for proposals. Charlotte
responded, offering an eligible site and $5,000 in money; Kins-
ton offered $10,000 in money; Raleigh offered $5,000 in money
(increased subsequently to $8,000), the Exposition Building,
valued at $3,000, one acre of land donated by Mr. Wm. Stronach
(conditioned upon locating the school upon it), and subsequently
the use of twenty acres donated by the Directors of the State
Fair, situated in the western part of the Fair Ground.

At this meeting of October 15th the Board of Agriculture
passed a resolution instructing the Director, Dr. Dabney, to
prepare and submit at their next meeting a report upon the cost
and character of an Experimental Farm, and also upon the con-
duct of an Industrial School.

Not satisfied with the progress made since the passage of the
Act, the Watauga Club on November 4th passed a resolution
calling- for a mass-meeting; of the friends of industrial education
throughout the State. With the aid of the citizens of Raleigh,
acting through Messrs. Primrose and Latta, a great mass-meet-
ing was called together on the 26th day of November. Capt.
Octavius Coke was made chairman. Dr. Chaney, from Atlanta,
Maj. R. Bingham, W. H. Kerr and others addressed the meeting.

THE NORTH CAROLINA TEACHER. 5

Great enthusiasm prevailed and the following resolution was
adopted :

"We, citizens of North Carolina, in mass-meeting assembled,
feeling a deep interest in the material welfare and prosperity of
our State, and well knowing that intelligent labor is the basis of
our civilization; believing that our people are of right entitled
to an institution where the best methods of manual labor may
be taught and its dignity faithfully impressed upon the minds
of our youth; deeply sensible of the necessity of a system of
education which will train the mind and hand together, and of
the truth that pure theoretical and literary education is not of
itself sufficient to meet the demands of the people or the neces-
sities of these times; profoundly conscious of the fact that the
avenues of livelihood to men trained only for literary pursuits
are already crowded, and holding as we do that it is the duty of
the State to her sons as she increases their demands upon society
by education to open up to them and multiply the avenues of
legitimate occupations; therefore resolved,

"1. That we ought to have an Industrial School.

"2. That it ought to be located in Raleigh.

"3. That we will give such institution our cordial co-opera-
tion and support.

"4i That a committee of twenty-five be appointed to prepare
a report upon the cost, character and constitution of such school,
and submit the same to the Board of Agriculture at their next
regular meeting in December."

Mr. Primrose was made chairman of the committee. Among
the most active of its members were Mr. Donald McRae, of
Wilmington, and Mnj. R. J. Powell, of Chatham. The commit-
tee, accompanied by Major Tucker, who represented the Raleigh
stockholders in their donation of the Exposition Building, sub-
mitted these resolutions and their report. (Several other stock-
holders, outside of Raleigh, also generously donated their stock.)
Speeches were made by Mr. Primrose, Maj. Tucker, Capt. Ashe,
Mr. Ashley and others. The Board of Agriculture appointed a
committee to report at next meeting upon the sufficiency of the

6 THE NORTH CAROLINA TEACHER.

amount tendered to establish the school. They adopted a reso-
lution establishing the Experimental Farm.

At the meeting of the Board, January 20th, 1886, the citizens'
committee made another supplemental report. The Board
adopted a resolution against the establishment of the school upon
the offers made, but donated $5,000 annually, to be applied as
soon as a sum adequate, in their judgment, should be offered.
The vote in the Board was understood to be close. The discus-
sion was adjourned to the newspapers and for awhile it was lively.
Never did industrial education get a better advertisement. Both
sides claimed friends with the school. The dispute was upon
adequacy of the sums offered and certain technicalities.

At the meeting of the Board of Agriculture, April 21st, 1886,
the citizens' committee again appeared before them and increased
the offer of the city of Raleigh to $8,000 in money. This offer
was accepted and a resolution to establish the school at this city
was adopted. Messrs. Leach, Moring and Wynne were appointed
directors on the part of the city. A site was purchased from
Dr. Grissom, and negotiations were pending for letting out the
contract to build when some events occurred which materially
changed the whole history of industrial education in North
Carolina.

As far back as 1885 Mr. Lovill had offered an amendment to
the Industrial School bill then pending, that the Land Scrip
Fund be taken away from the University and given to the pro-
posed school. It was lost. Some time after that Col. Polk
began to make the same demand through the columns of his-
paper. On the 18th of January, 1887, a mass-meeting of far-
mers, called together to consider the condition and needs of our
farmers, passed a resolution, offered by Mr. Wilson, for the far-
mers of Swift Creek, to the effect that the farmers needed an
Agricultural College, and that the Land Scrip Fund be diverted
from the University and applied thereto.

On the 26th of January a great mass-meeting of farmers and
world ngmen, called together from forty counties by Col. Polk,
mainly to consider this question, was organized with Elias Carr

THE NORTH CAROLINA TEACHER. 7

as chairman, and passed a resolution to the effect (1) that the time
had come to establish an Agricultural and Mechanical College
in accordance with the Land Scrip Act; (2) that the interest of
the Land Scrip Fund should be paid to the college; (3) that a
sufficient amount from the general treasury be appropriated and
available convict labor to establish, equip and maintain such
college, upon a basis equal to the demands of the hour; (4) that
the surplus funds of the Agricultural Department be utilized in
this connection ; (5) that every student be required to take a
course of manual training; (6) that the payment of the Land
Scrip Fund to this college should not work a diminution of the
appropriations to the University; (7) that the funds and prop-
ertv of the Industrial School, including the donations of the
City of Raleigh, in accordance with a resolution of its Board of
Alderman, be turned over to the proposed college. These reso-
lutions were prepared by P. A. Dunn, chairman of committee,
A. D. Jones, L. L. Polk, and others. A committee, J. T.
LeGrand, chairman, H. E. Norris, D. M. McKay, and Geo. Z.
French, was appointed to transmit these resolutions to the Gen-
eral Assembly and, with the aid of the committee appointed by
the convention of the 18th inst., to secure the passage of an act
embodying these resolutions.

The committee was ably assisted by Mr. Primrose, Dr. Dab-
ney, Mr. H. E. Fries, Mr. Leazar and many others, and they
did their work well. They prepared the bill which is in every
essential particular the Act establishing this college. Mr. Leazar
introduced the bill for the committee. In its passage through
the Legislature it did not have a sail "through seas of heavenly
rest." Not every one who voted for it favored it. Some wanted
to reduce the appropriation to the University, others wished to
cripple the Agricultural Department. They were, in fact, how-
ever, saving the department and rendering it far more useful to
the people. Some Republicans demanded its government should
be by directors from both political parties. Its friends accepted
this amendment, which is, perhaps, wise, as it takes it out of
politics. The bill could hardly have passed but for the timely

O THE NORTH CAROLINA TEACHER.

influence of Messrs. Keogh, Harris, Nichols and Eaves upon
the Republican members of the Legislature. It had to run
the gauntlet of amendments. Amendment by Mr. Ewart to
locate upon his farm. Lost. Bill passed final reading in the
House by a vote of 68 to 19.

Amendment by Mr. Mason in the Senate : " Locate near
Chapel Hill on lands of J. A. Cheek." Lost. Amendment by
Mr. Purcell to submit the question of establishment to the quali-
fied voters of the State. Lost. "This is another sink-hole to
bury the people's money in," exclaimed a youthful senatorial
fossil from the West. "The people are not in favor of it, for it
was not canvassed on a single stump in North Carolina!"
"You are mistaken," said Mr. Eaves. "I made it an issue
upon every stump in my county that my opponent voted against
the Industrial School Act of the last Legislature, and I beat him
upon that issue." The bill passed its final reading in the Senate
and became a law on the 3d day of March, 1887, by a vote of
29 to 13.

Capt. S. B. Alexander, Mr. W. R. Williams and Mr. Pou,
Mr. Leazar and Mr. Fries were among its principal advocates
in the Legislature. Both presiding officers were its friends.
Two years before Gov. Stedman had engineered 'the first Act
through over the heads of an unfair and filibustering opposition.
The passage of the Hatch Bill about this time appropriating
$15,000 to the College and Experiment Farm to be run in
connection therewith, the generous donation of Mr. Pullen of
this site and sixty acres surrounding, the strong pressure of two
great conventions of farmers and the well-directed efforts of its
friends in the city and elsewhere, with aid of friendly Repre-
sentatives, swept the bill through the Legislature as if by storm.
It will be a matter of interest one of these days to call the ayes
and noes, but I will not call them now.

The main features of this Act are worthy of attention here.
It provides that the name of the school shall be "The North
Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts"; that it
be located on the lands donated by R. S. Pullen ; that it shall be

THE NORTH CAROLINA TEACHER. 9

managed and controlled by the Board of Agriculture and five
persons, who together constitute its trustees. (Their names
appear upon the corner-stone). That the interest on the Land
Scrip Fund, $7,500 a year, shall be transferred to it on June
30th, 1888, or as soon thereafter as it shall be needed; that the
Directors of the Penitentiary shall furnish requisite brick and
stone and convict labor as they are able without interfering with
previous contracts; that the assets and accumulated funds of the
Industrial School be turned over to this College, and also the sur-
plus funds of the Department of Agriculture not required in its
regular work. (The expenses for regular work had just been
limited by another Act to $20,000 a year). That the Experiment
and Fertilizer Control Station be connected with the College,
and authority given to the Board to turn over to it all real and
personal property in their possession, and also to receive donations
from the United States government for Experiment Stations,
and expend them in accordance with the Act of Congress. (This
Act appropriates $15,000 per annum to the College of Agricul-
ture and to Experiment Station to be run in connection there-
with. Part of this fund, under a construction of our Act of As-
sembly, is being applied to the Fertilizer Control Station). That
the -use of the Camp Mangum tract, 300 acres, situated half
mile west of the State Fair Ground, be given to this College.
That 120 students may be admitted free, each county being enti-
tled to a scholarship for every member it sends to the General
Assembly. Such students shall furnish evidence of their good
moral character and their inability to pay tuition. That every
student be required to take a course in manual training. That
the Board of Trustees be composed of one-half of each political
party. The laws of North Carolina do not seem to contemplate
the possibility of a third party and have made no provision
for it in the government of this institution.

A summary of some of the main features of the Hatch Act is
necessary to a proper understanding of our Act of Assembly.
It passed in its present shape March 2d, 1887, the day before
ours became a law. It provides that in order to promote prac-

10 THE NORTH CAROLINA TEACHER.

tical scientific investigation and experiment in the principles of
agriculture, and to diffuse such information among the people,
there shall be established, under the direction of the agricultural
college or colleges of each State established and to be established
under the Land Grant Act of 1862, a department to be known
as "an Agricultural Experiment Station." That results of
experiments and investigations shall be published quarterly in
a bulletin to be sent to the newspapers of the State. That for
the expenses of investigation and dissemination the sum of
$15,000 per annum shall be appropriated to be specially provided
for by Congress in its appropriations from year to year. That
of the first year's appropriation one-fifth may be used in the
erection and repair of buildings, and five per centum thereafter.
That this Act shall not impair the legal relations existing between
the colleges and their State governments. That where States have
experiment stations separate from such colleges this money may
be applied to such stations. (Ours is in connection with this
college and a part thereof, and will be more completely subordi-
nated thereto by the next Legislature, if it carries out the intention
of the Act of Congress). That where a State has an agricul-
tural Department connected with a school not distinctively agri-
cultural and shall have or shall thereafter establish a separate
agricultural school in connection with an experimental farm, the
Legislature may appropriate this fund in whole or in part thereto.
That this appropriation shall be subject to the legislative assent
of each State.

The assets of this institution are:

1. The site and sixty acres surrounding, donated by Mr. R.
S. Pullen, valued at $4,000.

2. The use of twenty acres of land in the State Fair Ground,
donated by Directors of State Fair, valued at $2,000.

3. Three hundred acres of land, the Camp Mangum tract,
located about three-quarters of a mile west of this building, val-
ued at $5,000.

4. The Exposition Building, donated by the Raleigh stock-
holders, and valued at $3,000.

THE NORTH CAROLINA TEACHER. 11

5. Surplus of the Agricultural Department, $14,000 per
annum, contingent upon continued existence of the fertilizer tax.

6. The direct donations of the City of Raleigh in money,
$8,000.

7. The accumulated assets of the Industrial School set aside
under Act of 1885, amounting to $5,000.

8. The materials and labor furnished and to be furnished by
the Directors of the Penitentiary, valued at $6,000.

9. The State's certificate of indebtedness for the Land Scrip
Fund, $7,500 a year, a permanent endowment, if good govern-
ment continues, of $125,000.

10. The appropriations under the Hatch Act, $15,000 per
annum, equivalent, under certain limitations, to an endowment
of $300,000. Total, $472,000.

11. The earnest labors of 500 of our best citizens and the
best wishes of many thousand others.

Grand total: To be estimated by the future historian of this
institution, who shall write the second chapter of its history,
commencing with the beginning of practical operations by the
Board of Trustees under the law of its establishment.

I am enabled to read a printed copy of this history through
the enterprise and kindness of Mr. E. G. Harrell, who is an
enthusiastic friend of this institution. I have finished the task
that has been assigned to me. One or two thoughts and sug-
gestions and I have done.

You must not expect too much of those who have this institu-
tion in charge, nor expect it too fast. I am glad I am not one
of them. They have a splendid endowment to work with, but
it is hedged about in part by limitations, and they are in a new
and untried field in North Carolina. For awhile they must feel
their way cautiously, as being partly in the dark. Said Gen.
Johnstone Jones to me, himself a newspaper man: "I never
saw the words Industrial Education in print in this State till this
agitation by the Watauga Club." This may not prove that it
never was in print, but it does prove that it was very rare.
These Trustees, then, will meet many difficulties, will make

12 THE NORTH CAROLINA TEACHER.

some mistakes, will receive some criticisms; but I confess here,
by way of State's evidence, that every hindrance this institution
has met so far has redounded ultimately to its benefit. The hill
of difficulty which seems so steep to climb but helps us down
the other side of it, and resistance to the progress of truth is
God's method of advertising it. If those who have this move-
ment in charge will only have faith, as said Abraham Lincoln,
"The people, the people, the people, will carry them through."

I see, or I think I see, a difficulty that will dance attendance
upon this institution with devilish pertinacity : it is the tendency
toward theoretical, literary and idtr a- scientific education. Al-
though we have a thousand schools in the State where these
things may be taught, and should be taught, the tempter sitting
squat at the ear of the authorities will whisper, "This is the
place to teach them." There are to-day five million people in
the United States, and three million of them are in the South,
who call black-letter scholasticism alone education. Lord Bacon
waged war with these literary Apollyons, and they will be found
fighting against progress on the day of judgment.

With Pharasaical zeal and bigotry, these men would feign
have buried the new religion from Galilee mountain-deep beneath
the fossil learning of the Rabbis and the traditions of the elders.
They wanted to issue a diploma to its Divine Author before He
could get authority to heal the sick or raise the dead. Fools see-
ing this institution in close and deadly struggle with this tendency
will confound them both together and try to hurl both into the
same destruction.

There is a class of friends, too, who must be resisted. Their
cry is North Carolina for North Carolinians, which as often pro-
ceeds from a pot-hunter as from a patriot. Pay no attention to
them. God made all this world from which to choose the best
things that are in it. I charge you that you execute the people's
business as you would your own, and that for this purpose you
secure the best agents that can be found, under what sky soever
they may have been born.

THE NORTH CAROLINA TEACHER. 13

It was the custom among the Greeks and Romans to build
great temples in honor of great principles and virtues. Their
marble columns are standing to-day in unrivaled beauty upon
this earth. The centuries crowd together like little children at
their feet, and old Father Time, discouraged in his work of de-
struction, has sat himself down beside them to rest. No beholder
of these splendid columns can doubt that the virtues of which
they are monuments were at one time held in honor.

" I will build me an house," said Jehovah, the Great Royal Arch
Mason and Supreme Architect of this universe, and the gilded dome
of Solomon's Temple rose from the Hill of Mt. Zion, a beacon
light for all the ages. To-day there stands near the Ganges a beau-
tiful mausoleum or temple. It was built by an Indian King in
honor of his affection for his wife. It is adorned and crowned with
the purest white marble. Octagonal and slightly pyramidal in
shape, it lifts its graceful head for more than 200 feet above the
plain. Standing like a giant goddess of beauty, clothed in pure
garments of white, it can be seen for 30 miles away. It has
heard the rush of the sacred river for six centuries, but its mar-
ble looks almost as pure as if it had just sprung from the hand
of the architect. As it arches itself upward in successive splend-
ors ^f symmetry back toward the great Author of all things
symmetrical and beautiful, it is one of the most magnificent works
of man. The great eye of day, in his fierce, searching glance
over all this earth lights not upon another such a monument to
the virtue of affection. Fittest habitation on earth of the
fittest virtue under heaven or in heaven !

No white marble pillows support the building whose corner-
stone we have laid here to-day. At its feet no sacred river flows.
In its walls are nothing but North Carolina brick and her still
more solid sandstone. It is a goodly and a worthy structure,
yet I will not compare it to the temple of the ancient Indian
King; but in one respect they are alike. Both are the monu-
ments of a labor of love ; for this too is a temple reared by North
Carolinians in affection for North Carolina and by North Caro-
lina in affection for her children.

14 THE NORTH CAROLINA TEACHER.

It may be injured by the parsimony of some future law-giver,
or it may be enlarged by the generosity of some even more
princely benefactor than Mr. Pullen, but I make this prophecy :
that the principle of industrial education, for the want of a
habitation wherein to dwell, shall walk naked in North Caro-
lina no more again forever.

And to this building and the institution it embodies, and the
principle of industrial education of which it is the home, I would
say in the langauge of the Latins, itself an emblem of immor-
tality, esto perpetua !

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